World No. 1 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) collected the championship trophy in the first tournament of the new year.
McIlroy played in the final 4th round of the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) Hero Dubai Desert Classic (total prize money of 9 million dollars), which ended at the Emirates Golf Club (par 72, 7428 yards) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the 30th (local time). He wrote 4 under par and completed the first stroke victory (19 under par 269 strokes). After winning the World Golf Championship (WGC) Series HSBC Champions in March 2019, it is the 15th win in the DP World Tour career in four years, and the winning prize is $1.53 million (approximately 1.88 billion won).메이저놀이터
McIlroy started with a three-stroke lead and swept five birdies (one bogey). He continued his par streak in the 8th hole and started gaining strength with consecutive birdies on the 9th and 10th holes. The birdie on the 13th hole (par 5) forgot to look at the 15th hole (par 3), but the 17th and 18th holes showed off the birdie’s fearsome back-and-forth and confirmed the championship. A sophisticated iron shot with a 72.2% green hit rate and an 80% scramble ability that achieved par or higher results even if the ‘par on’ failed were outstanding.
McIlroy also scored his first win in the Rolex Series, a major event on his DP World Tour. This is his 3rd win in the tournament. He won in 2009 and 2015, but at the time it was not organized into a Rolex Series. McIlroy, who firmly secured his position as ‘Number 1’ by winning this competition, cheered, saying, “I want to enjoy this moment,” and “I am so happy to win after going through a difficult process.” He continued, “I’m off to a good start this year,” and smiled, saying, “I think I’ll be able to do well this season as well.”
Patrick Reed (USA), who had a war of nerves by throwing a tee at McIlroy before the tournament, pursued with a 7-under par, but was satisfied with the runner-up (18-under par, 270 strokes). ‘LIV Golf Member’ Ian Poulter (England) tied for 6th place (13 under par 275 strokes), Henrik Stenson (Sweden) tied for 8th place (12 under par 276 strokes), Lee Min-woo (Australia) tied for 13th place (11 under par 277 strokes) .
Amateur Michael Torbjornsen (USA) finished the tournament with a tie for 20th place (9 under par 279 strokes) as he could not reduce the number of strokes. Victor Perez (France), who won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship last week, was sluggish with a 3-over par and tied for 28th (8-under 280 strokes). Wang Jeong-hun, the only Korean player to sortie, is tied for 28th.